Important information about your offer

The following section covers essential information for all applicants, including important terms, conditions and requirements that the University will apply and rely upon in its future relationship with you. It is essential that you read them carefully.

If you decide to accept this offer, a contract will be formed between you and the University. Your rights and obligations to the University and the University’s obligations to you arising under that contract are set out below in the documents listed which will form the terms and conditions of your student contract:

  • Your offer letter
  • The Dubai Prospectus
  • The Code of Practice on Admission of Students
  • The University’s Royal Charter, Statutes, Ordinances, Regulations, Codes of Practice and University Legislation. View the current version from which you can find a summary of any changes that have already been agreed fort he start of the next academic year
  • The University’s health and safety policies and guidance, General Conditions of Use of Computing and Network Facilities, Data
  • Protection Policy, Equality Scheme, Public Interest Disclosure Policy and Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy. Find out more 
  • Programme requirements, which are shown for each programme on our website.

Application and admission to the University: information and requirements

You must provide accurate and complete information in your application form. If you do not, the University can withdraw the offer of a place or insist that you leave. Applicants who are minors according to UAE law must have a guardian. Both the applicant and their guardian will be required to enter into the contract for tuition, and the guardian may be required to act as a guarantor for the tuition fees. More information 

Programme entry requirements

The programme requirements for admission are set out in the relevant section of the prospectus and our website. Please consider these carefully to ensure you are eligible for your chosen subject.

Criminal convictions

If your offer of a place is conditional on you obtaining a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) or equivalent police check, the University will decide if any convictions or information revealed are incompatible with a place on the programme. If they are, you will be notified and your offer will be withdrawn. If your situation changes after the offer of a place, please notify the admissions tutor for your programme, or if you have already registered, the programme director.

Deferred entry

Applicants wishing to defer entry until September 2019 must meet all the conditions of their offer by 31 August 2018.

Tuition fees

Your tuition fees will be set out in your offer letter, based on the start date shown in the offer letter. However, if you defer your entry, then your tuition fees may be more than is stated in your offer letter, and you should contact the Admissions Office for more information. If you defer, the programme and/or its modules, programme requirements and University services and facilities as currently described in the prospectus or on our website may change for your chosen year of entry. Please keep referring to the University’s website, where up-to-date information will be published as soon as it is available.

Cancelling your acceptance

After you have accepted an offer of a place, you can cancel your acceptance within the cancellation period without giving us any reason. The cancellation period runs for 14 days from the date we receive your acceptance. If you cancel your offer within the cancellation period, any deposit or administration or other fees you have paid will normally be refunded in full. If you start your programme during the cancellation period, the University will charge you a reasonable sum for the programme provided. You can cancel your acceptance by informing the University’s Admissions Office by email at admissions@bham.ac.uk or by writing to the Admissions Office, the University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT.

Changes to programmes,courses, modules and services

Information set out in the prospectus and on the University website is accurate at the date of publication. However, changes to programmes, modules, University services and the content of the prospectus may be necessary, for example, to meet the requirements of an accrediting body or to keep programme contemporary by updating practices or areas of study.

Changes to programmes or modules may also be needed because of circumstances outside the reasonable control of the University, such as a key member of staff leaving the University or being unable to teach (where the programme or module is reliant on that person’s expertise) or where the minimum or maximum number of students needed to ensure a good educational or student experience has not been met or has been exceeded. Other circumstances outside the reasonable control of the University include unexpected lack of funding, industrial action, severe weather, fire, civil disorder, war, political unrest, government restrictions or serious concern about the transmission of serious illness making a programme unsafe to deliver. If changes to your programme are made after you have accepted your offer, the University will try to give you early notification of those changes and, where necessary, minimise their impact by offering suitable alternative arrangements, helping you find an alternative programme or university or providing compensation where it believes there is a fair case to do so.

Fees and payment

It is your responsibility to make sure your fees and all expenses relating to your programme are paid in full and on time. The University’s requirements on the payment of fees can be found in Regulation 5. When you register online, you will be asked to indicate how your fees will be paid. If you are paying your tuition fees yourself you must either pay the full amount at the beginning of the academic year or apply to pay by instalments. If you are a sponsored student, you are responsible for payment if your sponsor does not pay your tuition fees.

If you withdraw from your programme of study at University you will still be required to pay your tuition fees. However the date of your withdrawal (as reported to Taught Student Administration) and the type of programme will determine the amount of Tuition Fee that you will be charged. Find out more

Additional costs

All students will incur some expense as a result of being at university (eg, stationery, photocopying etc); where specific additional costs will be incurred for a particular programme (eg, field trips), this will be indicated on the relevant web page for that programme. A number of core recommended texts are available for borrowing in the University library, however students may wish to purchase their own personal copy. Unless your offer letter says otherwise, the tuition fee quoted in your offer letter does not include any charges for residential accommodation, examination re-sits, extensions to the designated period of study or travelling expenses.

In addition there will be the cost of obtaining a visa and medical insurance. Find out more

Non-payment of fees

If you do not pay your tuition fees in full or on time, the University may impose penalties which are set out in Regulation 5. As a result,you may not be allowed to progress on your programme or you may be expelled from the University. The University may also take legal action against you to recover any unpaid fees. If you do not pay any other(non-tuition) fees or other sums you owe, the University may take action to recover those sums. This may include withholding any service for which you owe money (for example, if you do not pay library fines you may not be allowed to access the library or use some or all of its facilities) or taking legal action against you.

If, as part of your programme, you spend time in another university, institution or organisation in the UAE or abroad, the rules and regulations of that university, institution or organisation are likely to apply to you while you are there. Some overseas institutions might impose academic sanctions, for example, they might refuse to release your marks, if you do not pay either tuition fees or any other fees or costs (such as accommodation fees) which you owe them. This might mean that you are not able to complete your programme as planned. 

Deposits

We reserve the right to charge a deposit for some programmes which may be non-refundable. Full details will be included in our offer letter where appropriate.

Scholarships

At the University of Birmingham Dubai we ensure that fears about finance do not constrain prospective students from considering university and that excellence is rewarded. The University offers additional financial support for students studying in Dubai in the form of scholarships. Details are on the University’s website

Conduct and attendance

Students are required to attend such lectures, tutorials, examinations and other activities as form part of their programme. This includes the requirement to submit theses, dissertations and coursework on time. Students must also be aware of and observe the University’s regulations and codes of practice relating to conduct, academic integrity, plagiarism, attendance and reasonable diligence. The University can impose penalties if you do not follow these requirements, and in serious cases the University can suspend or expel you from the University.

Students are also required to adhere to and observe the Dubai International Academic City (DIAC) Shared Facility Policy Statement on Student Discipline: www.diacedu.ae/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Shared-Facility-Policy-Statementon-Student-Discipline.pdf, breach of which may have an impact on your studies. If you need a visa to study, breach of this Policy Statement may result in the withdrawal of your visa. If your visa is withdrawn, you will be required to leave Dubai, and this may mean you will be unable to complete your programme. 

Diversity and equality

The University prides itself on being a diverse community. Our commitment to equality and diversity and the elimination of discrimination is embodied in the University’s Charter and our aim is to ensure that the University remains an inclusive environment where equality of opportunity and tolerance for all are fostered and promoted.

Disabilities

If you have a disability, the University will seek to support you whenever possible and reasonable to do so. If you have not yet disclosed that disability, we encourage you to do so at the earliest opportunity. As individual students’ needs (even those with the same condition) can vary, it is important that you contact the Disability and Learning Support Service at: disability@contacts.bham.ac.uk before you accept any offer of a place to find out what type of support is likely to be available to you and what information we need to arrange it. If you choose not to tell us about your disability, provide this information with short notice before your programme or examination/assessment start dates or do not provide full information about it before or during your programme, we will do our best to help you but you might not be able to have access to the full range of support which might otherwise be available to you.

Religious observance

The University is committed to the promotion of equality. However, you should be aware that:

  • Occasionally we have to schedule activities, including examinations, on Fridays and Saturdays. We recognise that scheduling such activities on Friday and Saturday is likely to cause difficulties for students in Dubai, and wherever reasonably possible we will make alternative arrangements. However students are advised to inform the relevant School and/or the Examinations Office in writing of such issues as soon as possible.
  • While the University imposes no dress code on its students you must be respectful to cultural norms and observe the dress code as set by Dubai International Academic City (DIAC) Shared Facility Policy Statement on Student Discipline: www.diacedu.ae/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Shared-Facility-Policy-Statement-on-Student-Discipline.pdf. There maybe exceptions, for example, some professional regulatory bodies or placement providers may have requirements as to what can be worn in certain situations, such as clinical settings.

International students

If you are a UAE citizen you will not require a visa. Other students should check with the Admissions Office. If you require a visa or immigration permission to study in the UAE, you will have to attend a Right to Study Check when you first arrive at the University. If you do not attend this Right to Study Check or cannot provide conclusive proof that you have the correct visa or immigration permission, you will not be allowed to begin your programme and/or you may be withdrawn from your programme. It is essential that you regularly read our emails (in the email account you used on your application to the University) and that you follow very carefully the instructions for arrival, and bring the documents stated in the email and right to Study checks. 

Intellectual property

If you, in the course of your study or research, develop intellectual property including an invention, device, discovery, material, product, process, computer software or any other potentially valuable result or innovation with material input from the University’s academic staff or as part of a collective project, programme or research activity, you assign all rights in such intellectual property to the University; the procedures and arrangements for notification and exploitation will be the same as those for Staff in the University set out in Regulation 3.16, Patents and the Exploitation of Inventions. The University will not make any claim to any intellectual property developed by you in circumstances other than those set out above. Details of the University’s procedures and guidance involving sharing of revenue from exploitation are available from the Director of Research and Knowledge Transfer within each of the colleges, Alta Innovations Ltd or the Registrar and Secretary.

When you may be asked to leave the University

You may be asked to leave the University if:

  • Your academic performance is not satisfactory
  • You are expelled from the University for breach of the conduct, Fitness to Practise, attendance or reasonable diligence requirements or you are unable to continue with your studies as a result of a sanction imposed by the DIAC Disciplinary Committee
  • You do not pay your tuition fees in accordance with the University’s Regulations
  • You are dismissed or expelled from any other organisation which you are required to attend or be a member of as part of your programme
  • You do not have the correct visa or immigration permission to study on your programme at the University, and you are an international non-UAE resident student needing a visa to enable you to be in the UAE to study
  • The University has reason to believe that you have not supplied all relevant information or have supplied false or misleading information relating to your application to the University
  • As a result of your actions, the University is unable to find a suitable placement which is required to complete your programme

Complaints

The University is committed to providing a high-quality educational experience, supported by a range of academic and administrative services and facilities. From time to time, however, things do go wrong, and if the matter cannot be resolved informally, the University provides students with a system for raising concerns and complaints about both academic and non-academic matters.

The Code of Practice on Student Concerns and Complaints, sets out a procedure for dealing with students complaints fairly, consistently and as quickly as possible. Students who are dissatisfied with a decision relating to a complaint they have raised may be able to complain to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA), an independent body which reviews student complaints; more information about the OIA is available on its website at: www.oiahe.org.uk. The Code of Practice on Admissions, sets out the procedure for asking for a review of decisions made in the application and admissions process.

Data protection and disclosure of personal information

The University will collect information about you from the application and registration procedures, as part of your academic progress and university life and from carrying out Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) or equivalent checks or health checks (if necessary). The University and the organisations we work with to deliver programmes will use this to support you on your programme, for the administration and management of the University, including statistical analysis and to contact you about University business. Medical information disclosed to the University, including the University’s Wellbeing Officer will be treated as confidential. Information arising from DBS checks or equivalents will be used only in accordance with the principles of the DBS code of practice. Some information may be disclosed outside the University, for example, at your request, with your consent or in order to meet statutory obligations. We may disclose information relating to your academic progress to your sponsor (if you have one).

The University and the Dubai International Academic City (DIAC) may share information about non-UAE students who require a visa to study to enable DIAC to process and manage visas. They may also share information about students registered with the University in relation to allegations of, investigations into and findings of misconduct by either the University or DIAC.

We will also ask for emergency contact details, and by providing them, you confirm that these individuals have consented to the processing of their personal data by the University.

All information will be kept fora reasonable period in accordance with legal requirements and for administration purposes

General matters

The University will not be liable to you and you will not be liable to the University for any failure or delay in performing obligations if the failure or delay is due to any significant cause beyond the University’s or your reasonable control, such as fire, flood or industrial dispute. Your contract with the University is between you and the University and only these two parties can enforce it. The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 does not apply. The contract between you and the University is governed by English law and is subject to any changes in the law which affect this contract. If you have any questions, please contact the admissions tutor for your programme.